Who They Are
Informal intermediaries are people who are not professionally trained and are not acting officially as go-betweens, helping to cool down or resolve a conflict. Rather, they are people who somehow become caught in the middle or otherwise are concerned about the conflict, and act in an informal way to try to make things better.
For example, friends can act as informal intermediaries between other friends who are fighting or couples who are having marriage difficulties. Co-workers can do the same for conflicts around the office; and community members can call meetings between disputing neighbors over community issues.
Jannie Botes , of the University of Baltimore, talks about the important and often-ignored role of informal third parties in conflicts of all types, tractable and intractable.
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Even at the international level, informal intermediaries have a major role to play. At that level, this activity is commonly called "citizen" or "track two" diplomacy. It consists of meetings, dialogues, and other joint activities between "regular" citizens who may just be trying to learn more about people on the other side (as might occur in a dialogue), or they might actually be trying to develop a new formula for resolving, or de-escalating the conflict that the official parties have been unable to acheive. The Dartmouth Conferences were an early example of dialogues that were held for years between Soviet and American citizens, long before detente became the official policy of the Soviet Union. [1] The 2003 "Geneva Accord" for the resolution of the Isareli-Palestinian conflict is another example of an effort by informal parties to resolve their vexing conflict. [2]
Most of William Ury's "third siders" are informal intermediaries. These people, described in his essay in this knowledge base, include:
While some of these roles (for example, mediators, arbitrators, and peacekeepers) are commonly played by official parties, all can be played by informal parties who take on that role on an unofficial basis. Essays describing some of these activities in more detail are provided both in Bill's essay on Third Siders in this knowledge base, at www.Thirdside.org, and in his book The Third Side. [2]
[1] Gennady I. Chufrin & Harold H. Saunders, "A Public Peace Process," Negotiation Journal, Vol. 9, No. 3, April 1993, pp. 155-177. An online summary of this article, written by Tanya Glaser for the Online Training Program on Intractable Conflicts, can be found at http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/peace/example/chuf7416.htm.
[2] William Ury, The Third Side: Why We Fight and How We Can Stop. New York: Penguin Books. 2000.
Use the following to cite this article:
Burgess, Heidi. "Informal Intermediaries." Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: July 2003 <http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/informal_intermediaries/>.
Sources of Additional, In-depth Information on this Topic
Additional Explanations of the Underlying Concepts:
Online (Web) Sources
Krueger, Cosima. "Informal Mediation by the Scholar/Practitioner--Summary." Conflict Research Consortium.
Available at: http://www.beyondintractability.org/articlesummary/10309/.
This summary describes Herbert C. Kelman's interactive problem-solving appraoch to conflict resolution. This approach consists primarily of workshops which are intended to supplement and complement official negotiations.
Unofficial Communication Channels / Citizen Diplomacy/ Multitrack Diplomacy. University of Colorado: Conflict Research Consortium.
Available at: http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/peace/treatment/citdip.htm.
In cases where official diplomats and formal representatives of the parties are unwilling or unable to communicate effectively, unofficial contact between informal representatives may provide a workable alternative. Originally formulated as "track two diplomacy" to be differentiated from, but supportive of, official or "track one" diplomacy, John McDonald and Louise Diamond suggested that there are actually nine tracks that all mutually reinforce each other in a peacebuilding system.
Offline (Print) Sources
Botes, Johannes. "Informal Roles." In Conflict: From Analysis to Intervention. Edited by Druckman, Daniel, Larissa Fast and Sandra Cheldelin, eds. New York: Continuum, 2003.
This brief chapter provides some clear comparisons between formal and informal third-party intervention. It explores different types of informal third-party intervention and offers some thoughts on how some new approaches to research could help generate more a precise description of informal third-party intervention.
Fisher, Simon, ed. Working with Conflict: Skills and Strategies for Action. Zed Books, January 1, 2000.
This source book provides a range of practical tools, processes, ideas and techniques for tackling conflict. Arranged in four parts (Analysis, Strategy, and Learning) the book draws on the experience of over 300 practitioners worldwide. It has been translated into several languages, including French, Russian and Spanish.
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Examples Illustrating this Topic:
Offline (Print) Sources
Kelman, Herbert C. "Informal Mediation by the Scholar/Practitioner." Mediation in International Relations: Multiple Approaches to Conflict Management , 1992.
Kelman describes his interactive problem solving approach to conflict resolution. This approach consists primarily of workshops which, "try to contribute to creating a political environment conducive to conflict resolution and to transformation of the relationship between the conflicting parties."[65] Such workshops are intended to supplement and complement official negotiations. [online abstract] Click here for more info.
Bailey, Sydney D. "Non-Official Mediation in Disputes: Reflections on the Quaker Experience." International Affairs 61:2, 1985.
This article presents a discussion of the role of non-official mediators in international conflicts, such as Quakers. This article represents a relatively early take on the potential role of NGOs in peacemaking activities, as NGOs were just emerging as significant international actors in the mid-1980s. The author notes that the UN was not entirely prepared to relate to, nor effectively utilize the contributions of, NGOs at this point in time.
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Audiovisual Materials on this Topic:
Offline (Print) Sources
The Strange Demise of Jim Crow . Directed and/or Produced by: Berman, David. California Newsreel. 1998.
This film presents the various parties, and leaders, involved in the 1960s, U.S. civil rights movement. Click here for more info.
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